Threat from militants, not from India: commander

RAWALPINDI - Rawalpindi Corps Commander Lt Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa said on Sunday there was no threat from India and that “threat is from the extremists among us”. "Pakistan should come first,” Bajwa said in his address, gracing All-Pakistan Academic Excellence Award ceremony 2013 as chief guest at FG Sir Syed College, Mall Road."We are not Sindhi, Balochi, Punjabi or Pathan – We all are Pakistani. We should be proud of our identification as Pakistani. Pakistan is our identity." The commander urged students to seek education not only to get degree but also to serve the country. "Education is essential for our development and progress," added Bajwa. He said getting education was the most prime concern of a human being as “it is education that makes us social beings”."The quality of a society or a nation entirely depends on the quality of its education and the students are the future of a nation". Bajwa said that knowledge was found in books, but life in society. The job of an educational institution was to make both of them compatible by linking them together. Human Resource Development Director General Maj-Gen Nadir Zaib, FGEIs (C/G) Director Brig Khush Muhammad Khan, GSOs-1 of the Regional Offices of the Directorate, principals, teachers and students were also present. FGEIs Directorate organized the mega event to distribute prizes among students belonging to the institutions of its 11 regions Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Wah, Gujranwala, Multan, Bahawalpur, Kharian and Fazaia, and who excelled in the primary/middle level scholarship exams, SSC-I, SSC-II, HSSC-I, HSSC-II exams and BA/BSc Exams held during 2013. On this occasion, FGEIs Director Brig Khush Muhammad Khan said the FGEIs organised such events at Directorate and Regional level to promote and encourage students who excelled in the exams and took positions in board and university exams.The ceremony was largely attended by serving and retired officers, students and their parents.Indian atrocities in Held Valley condemned: Staff Reporter from Sialkot adds: The Kashmir people residing in Sialkot region also observed the Indian Republic Day as black day and protested against the rising atrocities of the Occupant Indian Army in the Held Valley. The Kashmiri people wearing black arm bandages expressed complete solidarity with the oppressed people of the Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.Addressing the protest meetings at Sialkot, Daska, Sambrial , Uggoki, Bajwat, Pasrur, Badiana, Chawinda, Satrah and surrounding areas, the local Kashmiris said the sacrifices of the thousands of innocent Kashmiris would become fruitful soon.On the occasion, Jammu and Kashmir Freedom Front Chairman Dr Zahid Ghani Dar said that peace could never be promoted in South Asia without solving the prolonged delayed burning issue. He termed Kashmir a key to peace. He urged the Pakistan government to adopt a solid policy on Kashmir. He strongly criticised the imposition of curfew in Occupied Jammu & Kashmir, terming it violation of human rights by the occupant Indian Army.Kashmiri People Welfare Front President Prof Abid Hussain expressed grave concern over rising human rights violations, custodial killings and genocide of the innocent Kashmiri people in the Held Valley. He said that these nasty practices were enough to shake the conscience of the international community.PPP’s central leader and former federal minister Firdous Ashiq Awan narrated that freedom is the basic right of people and none could deny this fact. At Koobay Chak, she urged the world community to use its complete influence to globally pressure India for halting human rights violations.During another meeting of the Kashmiri people at Bajwat near Sialkot here, AJK Legislative Assembly Member Ch Muhammad Ishaq said the sacrifices of the hundreds of the thousands of the Kashmiri people would soon become fruitful in shape of freedom of Kashmir from Indian yoke, as the Kashmir Issue has reached near its peaceful amicable solution as per the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. Sahibzada Hamid Raza, former AJK minister, expressed complete solidarity with the Kashmiris, and said that the early solution to Kashmir dispute has now become vital for ensuring sustainable peace in the Subcontinent.